Posted on 08/16/2003 11:34:06 PM PDT by Burkeman1
In the terrorism business, it seems, diversity is all the rage. What Hemant Lakhani, an international arms dealer of British nationality and Indian ethnicity, Moinuddeen Ahmed Hameed, a Muslim from Malaysia, and Yehuda Abraham, a Jewish-American gem dealer who works out of New York City's diamond district, have in common is that they are all being held in connection with a plot to purchase surface-to-air missiles on behalf of terrorists. Except that the alleged terrorists they were dealing with were really FBI agents and informants, who had been tracking them for over a year in an effort to smoke out the rest of Osama bin Laden's worldwide network.
A leak to the media, however, forced the feds to go public before the trap could be fully sprung, at least according to Newsweek's Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball.
Several aspects of this case are extremely odd, starting with the ethnic "diversity" of the players.
Hemant Lakhani, a.k.a. Hemad, a.k.a. Hekyat – Beginning with his exact name, we get conflicting accounts of just who and what this guy is. By some accounts he's an "international arms dealer," yet his neighbors described him as "Mr. Average" and were shocked when the cops beat down the doors of the Lakhanis' home in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Hendon, a north London suburb. The Guardian and others characterize the 68-year-old Indian-born British national as an amateur in the arms trade, whose last known profession was as a garment trader and the manager of a West End clothing store. Julian Borger disdains him as "a blusterer, rather too anxious to impress on his contact that he is a 'serious businessman' capable of getting hold of 'high-class stuff.'"
Yet in the same newspaper we read:
"A source close to British intelligence yesterday described Mr. Lakhani as a 'known arms dealer' who was thought to conduct most of his business offshore. He put 'feelers' out and 'clearly knew who he was selling the missile to,' the source added, making the point that Mr. Lakhani would not have been involved in a 'blind deal.'"
The internet turns up sparse evidence of Lakhani or what he does for a living.
Yehuda Abraham – If Lakhani's neighbors were somewhat surprised to see his house swarming with police, Yahuda Abraham's family and friends are even more mystified. What possible connection could this 76-year-old pillar of the Orthodox Jewish community in New York City have to do with international terrorism? Mr. Abraham is described by the New York Times as "a slight, stooped 76-year-old gem dealer, with a house in Queens, an office in New York's diamond district and shops around the world." Pretty much the last person you might expect to be involved in a scheme to sell SAMs to Al Qaeda. And yet:
"One night last October, prosecutors say, a client entered Mr. Abraham's 12th-floor Midtown office and handed him $30,000 in hundred dollar bills, an odd, if believable transaction in the world of international gem dealers. Mr. Abraham, by the government's account, counted out every note, then gave the client his business card. But this was not a jewelry sale, prosecutors allege. It was a secretive deal, with a code number and a cash commission, in which Mr. Abraham agreed to transfer the client's money to a bank account in Europe, out of the sight of federal regulators."
The code number, which was used to identify the FBI agent posing as a "client," consisted of the serial number of a $1 bill in Abraham's possession, It was like something out of a James Bond movie: hardly the sort of elaborate precaution an ordinary criminal would take.
Abraham's family is predictably indignant, and his colleagues in the diamond trade are baffled. Says one:
"'For a Jew to do something like that, I cannot believe it or understand it,' said a 49-year-old jewelry wholesaler whose shop is on 47th Street. 'He's a prominent member of our community. To do something like that is crazy.'"
But we are living in crazy times, an era that might even be termed the Bizarro Age, like the Bronze Age. So it is not only possible it is altogether all too probable that what the FBI says has some basis in fact
(Excerpt) Read more at antiwar.com ...
What's up with that?
The interesting questions are:
1.How did Hemant Lakhani, Yehuda Abraham and Moinuddeen Ahmed Hameed get in contact with each other?
2. Who called Yehuda Abraham from the UK?
3. Who blew the operation to the BBC?
4.Yehuda and his son Gideon have an office in Saudi Arabia and claim to have sold to the royal family. How did they get that deal?
5. FSB says Hemant Lakhani may have made contact with illegal arms dealers in Russia. Which ones?
6.Big money lawyers and the media were all over this case within hours of it being reported. Who is paying them? Why, within hours, was the U.S. government on trial?
I seriously doubt it.
That sounds a bit paranoid. Are you suggesting FR is being watched by nefarious sources? (LOL)
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